


Seasons of Migrations to the North

by divapilot



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 14:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12866361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divapilot/pseuds/divapilot
Summary: Mara finds herself trapped in a situation where she begins to question what her reality is.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

 

Mara closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, and drew in a deep breath as the Jade Shadow settled onto its landing struts. The vessel began to power down, and she listened as the engine’s hum started to become slower. She opened her eyes and scanned the landing bay to see the support crew advance toward her ship to perform the necessary post-flight routines. Her mouth edged into an irked line as her vision confirmed her Force sense. No Skywalker to greet her.

He must have gotten sidetracked, she thought as she unsnapped her safety webbing. I’ll see him soon enough. After all, it was Luke who had specifically asked her to oversee this mission. He’d want the results as soon as she could provide them.

Mara rose from her seat and walked back to her cabin to retrieve her personal items. She slung her duffel bag over her jacketed shoulder and picked the artifact up from where it lay on the bed. It was a curious thing; Luke had been right about that. The archaeologists at the site on that Force-forsaken outer rim desert planet had told her it was incredibly old. Mara cocked an elegant eyebrow at it as if trying to read the significance of the object. She shrugged, opened her duffel bag, and pushed it inside amid her clothes and materials, then proceeded down the ship’s passageway and out, securing her vessel behind her.

The walk from the landing bay to the central hub of the complex wasn’t long and Mara strode through the well-lit corridor. The air here smelled a little different, she noticed, and it made a slightly disagreeable tingle in her nostrils. But it was of no consequence. Air in this part of the complex was often processed, and it was very possible that the filtration needed an update. She made a mental note to mention that to Luke.

The corridor opened to the atrium, where the entrances to the landing bays connected to the access portals that led to the various areas of the complex. Since their re-establishment on Ossus, the Jedi and the government had tried to find a way to merge their sometimes divisive objectives in a harmonious way, and pairing the access to the temple at the same location as the access to the government buildings seemed to work well. The atrium soared above her head, and in the mid-day, the sun provided natural lighting. It was just dusk now, but at night the atrium roof let in the faint starglow and an observer could track the moons at their apex. The unique cosmology of Ossus created interesting twilight effects that the designers of the atrium exploited, and beveled panels in the atrium roof projected brilliant reflections as light from the waxing and waning suns sheared through. Plants grew along the walls and a water feature provided a distant soothing babble. Only a few, like Mara, knew that the water had been specifically requested by Luke. It made her smile softly to think that he had left a subtle reminder of his presence here.

Speaking of his presence. Where was her husband? He ought to have at least commed her if he was going to be late to meet her. She readjusted her duffel bag as the transport that led to the residences near the temple arrived. She boarded the transport and found it, to her satisfaction, mostly deserted. Dropping the bag onto the seat across from her, she sat down and relaxed. A quick probe along their Force bond revealed Luke’s close proximity. He was focused on something, but calm and at peace. When she didn’t feel a corresponding return connection along their Force bond from him, she retrieved her comm unit from her jacket pocket.

The device clicked. “Mara?” Luke’s voice came through the speaker.

She leaned against the seat and stretched out her legs, still dancer-agile in her movements. The lights along the tunnel flashed as the transport sped to its destination. “Of course. Who were you expecting?”

He laughed quietly. “I never know what to expect with you. Probably why I married you. So you got in early?”

She frowned. “No, we agreed I would be back today. Remember? We talked last night.”

“We talked last night because you wanted to tell me you would be delayed. No problem, my love. Another day with you is another day in paradise for me.”

“It better be. I’m the best thing you’ve ever had.”

He laughed again. There was a pause from Luke, and Mara heard a rustling noise. “I’m just wrapping things up. Where are you? I can come and meet you.”

Mara looked up. The transport was beginning to slow as it approached the residential area. “Almost home.”

“Why don’t I meet you and we can go to Han and Leia’s? They’d love to see you. Ben’s visiting over there. Besides, Leia invited me for dinner and it’s getting late.”

“You should have met me at the docking bay. But I’ll let you make it up to me.”

“I would have met you at the docking bay if I’d known you would be there today. But either way, I will thoroughly enjoy making it up to you later.”

Mara laughed. “Just meet me at the residential terminal and we’ll go to Han and Leia’s together.”

They said their goodbyes and Mara switched off the unit. She laughed quietly and shook her head as she put the device back in her pocket. Luke must be terribly distracted if he got such a simple thing as her arrival date mixed up.

True to his word, however, she saw him standing at the station as the transport pulled in. He walked over to her and greeted her with a gentle kiss. “Missed you, Mara,” he said quietly.

“Missed you too, farmboy.” She smiled at him. “How’s Ben?”

“He’s fine. He’s going to be so happy to see you.”

Their conversation fell into an easy, familiar pattern as they walked together toward the building in which Han and Leia lived. They caught up on the events of the last two weeks: Luke filled her in on his continued efforts at his re-established Jedi Academy, and she recounted the journey to retrieve the artifact. Before long they reached the apartment building.

A few minutes later they were at the Solo residence. A blustery C-3P0 met them at the door and ushered them into the foyer. A moment later the droid was nearly toppled over by a small boy about three years old.

Mara dropped the duffel bag, bent down, and opened her arms as Ben excitedly embraced her. She hugged him tightly. Two weeks without her son was too long, she thought.

“What have you been doing all day?” she asked Ben.

He made a face and laughed. “Playing x-wings with Jacen.”

She looked up to see the teenager standing in the doorway. “If he flies anything like he plays, Ben is gonna be an amazing pilot,” Jacen said. “That kid has no fear.”

Jacen turned to Ben, who looked up at his cousin adoringly. “Except you keep crashing your ships, buddy,” Jacen said, ruffling Ben’s copper hair.

Mara stood up and took Ben’s hand as they walked into the apartment. “Thank you for spending time with him, Jacen,” she said.

Jacen smiled at the child, who returned the radiant grin. “No problem. It was fun.”

A woman’s voice interrupted their conversation. “Mara? Home so soon? I’m glad you could make it.” Leia met them in the main room of the apartment. “Jaina commed earlier to tell me she can’t come to dinner tonight. She would have loved to have seen you. Maybe you two can get together soon before she goes off on another mission.”

“Of course. I’d love to catch up with Jaina.”

Leia turned toward the kitchen. “Mara’s here, Han,” she called. “Set another place, please.”

Mara glanced at Luke, her brow furrowed. “Does everyone think I’m too early? Have I ruined a surprise you were planning for me or something?”

Luke put his hand on her arm as they sat together on the sofa in the central room. “Of course not. And it doesn’t matter, you know we’re always welcome here.”

Mara was about to retort with a particularly witty barb when a coughing fit interrupted her. It took her a minute to gain her composure.

Leia sat across from them and began picking up data storage units and datapads from the low table that separated her from Luke and Mara. “I apologize for the mess,” Leia said. “I hope that didn’t set off anything for you, Mara. There must be some dust buildup here. I’ll have the cleaning droid do a deep clean of the carpeting next time. Did you want any water?”

“No, thank you,” Mara said, her voice strained from coughing. “I’m fine, and your home is fine. Don’t worry about me.”

She set the datapads neatly beside the sofa. “With all the documentation I have to go through lately, and with Han out trying to restore negotiations with the Corellian faction, neither of us have had much time to devote to the house,” Leia said.

“Don’t think about it,” Luke assured her. “Let’s put work aside until after dinner. Right now we should enjoy each other’s company.”

“You’re right,” Leia said. She sat back on her sofa, her long brown hair draped over one shoulder. “So Mara, did you find anything interesting on your mission?”

“I did, in fact. You might like to see it.” She got up and retrieved the artifact from her duffel bag, then brought it back to the common room and placed it on the table. Jacen came into the room, staring at it as if drawn to it. Luke leaned in closer and Leia raised her hand to her chin thoughtfully.

“When I got there, the archaeologists had the general location but they didn’t know where exactly it was,” Mara said. “I meditated on it a little while, and then I could see it, deep under the sand, and that’s how I showed the archaeologists where to dig.” She leaned back and turned to her companions. “It was fascinating to watch. They were so meticulous about recording all the data surrounding the artifact. The scientists tested the strata in which it had been discovered – this thing has been buried for millennia. Their guess is about thirty thousand years. They have no idea how it got there.”

The artifact was ancient, that was obvious. It was constructed of solid material, dark in color, devoid of any markings, and shaped like a perfect cube. But the strangest thing was not its age or its appearance. The cube seemed to emit a power of its own, a pulse through the Force that was both intriguing and unnerving.

 

“What is it?” Leia asked, her voice hushed.

“The archaeologists didn’t know,” Mara said. “No one has seen anything like it. They think it might be some kind of an early holocron.”

Luke picked it up and frowned in concentration. “It doesn’t seem hostile. It isn’t sentient. It doesn’t seem to have a message to relay.”

Luke put the object back on the table and Jacen reached out to it with his fingertip. “It almost seems alive.” He floated his hand just over its surface in an attempt to trace its energy patterns.

Mara looked at them. “It seems to channel energy through the Force. But what type of energy? The archaeologists are stumped on this one. I was hoping maybe Tionne might have some clues.”

They stared at the artifact, feeling the uncanny power that radiated from it. A wondrous quiet fell upon the group as they marveled at the mysterious object.

Suddenly Han’s voice from behind them broke the silence. “Hi Luke. Mara. Hey, who’s hungry?” He glanced at the table then back at the family. “Nice box. Are we ready to eat?”

***

A few hours later, Mara headed back to their own apartment with Ben and Luke. Ben drowsily laid his head on his father’s shoulder as they approached the door. “Do you think it’s safe to have that thing in the house with Ben?” Luke asked quietly. “You know how sensitive he can be to disruptions in the Force.”

Mara shifted her bag and keyed in her access code into the lock panel. “He should be fine. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything dark about it.”

The door lock buzzed. Mara tried her code again. Again, the door buzzed and refused to open.  
“Let me try,” Luke said. He reached over and entered his code and the door slid obligingly open.

“Trying to keep me out?” Mara said, smirking. “I’ll have to call maintenance and have them reset my code tomorrow morning.”

“Let me tuck this little guy in, you meet me in our bedroom, and I’ll reset your code tonight.”

Mara shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Skywalker, you make promises you can’t keep.”

He smiled slyly as he carried the slumbering child into his bedroom. Mara walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband, taking in the familiar furniture and sparse decorations, and put her bag on the dresser, then slid her jacket off and hung it up. 

She closed her eyes, exhaled, and smiled. It was good to be home.


	2. Chapter 2

Mara closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, and drew in a deep breath as the Jade Shadow settled onto its landing struts. The vessel secured, she listened as the engine’s hum began to wind down. She opened her eyes and scanned the landing bay. A message chimed on her console to indicate that the support crew had acknowledged her arrival and her ship was in the queue to receive the necessary post-flight routines. Her mouth edged into an irked line as her vision confirmed her Force sense. No Skywalker to greet her.

He must have gotten sidetracked, she thought as she unsnapped her safety webbing. I’ll see him soon enough. After all, it was Luke who had asked her to personally oversee this mission. He’d want the results as soon as she could provide them.

Mara rose from her seat and walked back to her cabin to retrieve her personal items. She slung her duffel bag over her jacketed shoulder and picked the artifact up from where it lay on the bed. It was a curious thing; Luke had been right about that. The archaeologists at the site on that Force-forsaken desert planet claimed it was incredibly old – their tests had determined that the item must have been buried in the sands millennia ago.

Mara cocked an elegant eyebrow at it as if trying to read the significance of the object. The artifact made her uneasy for some reason, and she would be glad to be rid of it. Hopefully she could drop it off with someone at the temple, today if possible. She was not a naturally superstitious person, but there was something about this thing. Not something dark, as if it were a Sith artifact – she had had experience with those. This was something older, more primal. She stared at it, turning it over as if to coax its mysteries out of it. Then she frowned, opened her duffel bag, and pushed it inside amid her clothes and materials. She made her way through the ship’s passageway, secured her vessel, and then crossed the landing bay to the transportation center.

The walk from the landing bay to the central hub of the complex wasn’t long and Mara strode through the well-lit corridor. The air smelled stale and mildly unpleasant, she noticed, and it made a disagreeable itch in her throat. But it was of no consequence. Air in this part of the complex was often processed, and it was very possible that the filtration needed an update. She made a mental note to mention that to Luke.

Since their re-establishment on Ossus, the Jedi and the government had tried to find a way to merge their sometimes divisive objectives in a harmonious way, and pairing the access to the temple at the same location as the access to the government buildings seemed to work well. Citizens who worked here mingled with government executives and Jedi associates from the nearby temple, and the noise from the crowd irritated her. A dull headache began throb and she rubbed her forehead.

The corridor opened to the atrium, where the landing bay entrances connected to the access portals that led to the various areas of the complex. The wide dome of the atrium soared above her head, and in the mid-day, the sun provided natural lighting. At night, the full display of the stars glittered faintly. But it was just dusk now. She looked to the eastern horizon and saw the disc of the first moon, Mim, begin to edge upward. Within the hour the second moon, Nerit, would appear. The unique cosmology of Ossus created interesting twilight effects that the designers of the atrium exploited, as beveled panels in the dome projected brilliant sparkling bluish reflections as light from the waxing and waning suns sheared through. Lush plants grew along the low walls and in beds placed throughout the atrium, and a water feature provided a distant soothing babble. Only a few, like Mara, knew that the water had been specifically requested by Luke. It made her smile softly to think that he had left a subtle reminder of his presence here.

Speaking of his presence. Where was her husband? He ought to have at least commed her if he was going to be late in meeting her. She readjusted her duffel bag as the transport arrived and she entered the open door. She sat down and dropped the bag onto the seat across from hers. Thankfully the transport unit was mostly empty. The last thing she needed was more annoying noise to ramp up the headache. The transport began its trip toward the sector that led to the residences at the temple. Mara sent a quick probe along their Force bond which revealed Luke’s close proximity, but she couldn’t tell what he was up to. When she didn’t feel a corresponding connection along their Force bond from him, she retrieved her comm unit from her jacket pocket.

The device clicked. “Mara?” Luke’s voice came through the speaker.

She leaned against the seat and stretched out her legs, still dancer-agile in her movements. The lights along the tunnel flashed as the transport sped to its destination, making her headache worse. “Of course,” she snapped. “Who were you expecting?”

He sighed. “So you got in early?”

She frowned. “No, we agreed I would be back today. Remember? We talked last night.”

“We talked last night because you wanted to tell me you would be delayed. Are you okay? Are you feeling well?”

Mara rubbed her forehead again. “Just feeling a little – I don’t know, off.”

There was a pause from Luke, and Mara heard a rustling noise. “I’m just wrapping things up. Where are you? I can come and meet you.”

Mara looked up. The transport was beginning to slow as it approached the residential area. “Almost home.”

“Why don’t I meet you and we can go to Han and Leia’s? They’d love to see you. Ben’s visiting over there. Besides, Leia invited me for dinner and it’s getting late.”

She paused. It would be nice just to go home and lie down, but she didn’t want to seem ungrateful to Han and Leia for their hospitality. Besides, if they had offered to watch Ben today, then at least she ought to see them and thank them in person. Mara put on a teasing tone. “You should have met me at the docking bay. But I’ll let you make it up to me.”

She reached across their bond again and sensed Luke’s mood lighten. “I would have met you at the docking bay if I’d known you would be there today. But either way, I will thoroughly enjoy making it up to you later.”

Mara laughed. “Just meet me at the residential terminal and we’ll go to Han and Leia’s together.”

They said their goodbyes and Mara switched off the unit. She shook her head as she put the device back in her pocket. Luke must be terribly distracted if he got such a simple thing as her arrival date mixed up.

True to his word, however, she saw him sitting at the station, engrossed in his datapad, as the transport pulled in. He looked up as the doors to her transport opened, then stood up, placing the datapad into the pocket of his leather jacket. She walked over to him and he greeted her with a gentle kiss. She smiled as she handed him the duffel bag to carry for her. “How’s Ben?”

Luke put the bag across his shoulders. “He’s fine. He’s found a new love of coloring. Luckily Leia still had a lot of the art supplies that her kids played when they were younger.”

Their conversation fell into an easy, familiar pattern as they walked together toward the building in which Han and Leia lived. They caught up on the events of the last two weeks: Luke filled her in on his continued efforts at his re-established Jedi Academy, and she recounted the journey to retrieve the artifact. Before long they reached the apartment building.

A few minutes later they were at the Solo residence. A blustery C-3P0 met them at the door and ushered them into the foyer. “Master Luke! Mistress Mara! How wonderful to see you. Please come in!”

Luke put the duffel bag down and Mara peered around the corner. She turned to C-3P0. “Where’s Ben?”

The droid paused in his shuffling and pivoted toward her. “I believe he is in the study,” he said.  
Mara directed her thoughts toward her son and confirmed that he was nearby. He seemed uninterested in his parents’ presence. Odd, she thought. But then again, three year olds were easily distracted. She walked into the nearby study as Luke followed C-3P0 into the common room.

She found him absorbed by his artwork. “Hey, sweetheart. How have you been today?” she asked Ben.

Ben looked up at her. “Hi Mom. Look what I drew.” He turned the flimsy toward Mara and pointed to the center of the picture. “Those are x-wings. This one is Daddy.” He pointed to another part of the drawing. “And this one is you.”

She studied the crude drawing for a moment. “Why did you make those orange lines on mine?”

Ben looked at her as if the answer was obvious. “That’s the fire.”

Mara laughed. What strange notions got into that kid’s head sometimes. She nodded appreciatively. “Nice drawing. Did you miss me?”

Ben shrugged. “I guess.”

Before Mara could comment, a woman’s voice interrupted their conversation. “Mara? Home so soon? I’m glad you could make it.” Leia came into the study and gave Mara a quick embrace before turning to Ben. “Come on, Ben,” Leia said. “Time to clean up for dinner.”

Ben sighed, then headed toward the fresher without a glance at either woman. Leia looked at Mara closely. “Are you all right? You look a little pale.”

“Just a headache. I’m sure it will be fine.”

“You should contact Cigal. You might have picked up some kind of virus. At the very least, she can get you an analgesic for your headache.” Mara and Leia walked together to the common room, and as they passed the kitchen, Leia paused. “Mara’s here, Han,” she called. “Set another place, please.” She turned back to Mara. “You just missed Jaina. She’s off on a mission and won’t be back until next week. But I’m glad you could make it. We didn’t expect you back so soon.”

Mara glanced at Leia, her brow furrowed. “Does everyone think I’m back early? Were you planning a surprise for me or something? Am I interrupting your plans?”

Leia put her hand on Mara’s arm as they sat together on the sofa in the central room, across from Luke and Jacen, who were in conversation. “Of course not,” Leia said. “And it doesn’t matter, you know we’re always welcome here.”

Mara was about to reply when a coughing fit interrupted her. It took her a minute to gain her composure.

Leia began picking up data storage units and datapads from the low table in front of them. “I hope you aren’t coming down with something. Did you want any water?”

“No, thank you,” Mara said, her voice strained from coughing. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“I hope nothing here set off a reaction. I apologize for the mess. I’ve been so busy with all the documentation I have to go through lately, and Han going out to try and restore negotiations with the Corellian faction just adds to the stress. It would be easier to take care of the house if maybe Han stayed home a little more.” Leia rolled her eyes as she began to pick up the datapads that were spread over the little table by the sofa. “But, I guess it makes him feel good to be out and exploring, especially when I have to stay here to deal with bureaucratic affairs. He gets bored easily.”

Luke looked up from his conversation with Jacen. “Let’s put work aside until after dinner,’ he said, chuckling. “Right now we should enjoy each other’s company.”

“You’re right,” Leia said. She sat back on her sofa, her long brown hair draped over one shoulder. “So Mara, did you find anything interesting on your mission?”

“I did, in fact. You might like to see it.” She got up and retrieved the artifact from her duffel bag, then brought it back to the common room and hesitantly placed it on the table. Once again, she got that strange feeling from it, as if it could cast some kind of aura. Luke and Jacen came over and sat down on the sofa with the two women, and Jacen stared at the cube as if drawn to it. Luke leaned in closer and Leia raised her hand to her chin thoughtfully.

The artifact was ancient, that was obvious. It was constructed of solid material, dark in color, and shaped like a perfect cube. Unrecognizable icons surrounded the edges, and characters of an unknown language were engraved on its dull gray sides. But the strangest thing was not its age or its appearance. The cube seemed to emit a power of its own, a pulse through the Force that was both intriguing and unnerving.

“What is it?” Leia asked, her voice hushed.

Mara shook her head. “The archaeologists didn’t know. No one has seen anything like it. They think it might be an early holocron.”

Luke picked it up and closed his eyes in concentration, then opened them again and frowned at the object. “It doesn’t seem hostile. It isn’t sentient. It doesn’t seem to have a message to relay.” He rubbed his beard in thought as he examined it. “I’ve never seen these symbols before. Maybe it’s some kind of language?”

Luke put the object back on the table and Jacen reached out to it with his fingertip. “It almost seems alive,” Jacen said quietly. He floated his hand just over its surface in an attempt to trace its energy patterns. “I can feel it through the Force. Could it be Sith?”

Mara looked at them. “I doubt it. I’ve seen the items that the emperor used to have and they had a different feel to it. This thing seems to channel energy through the Force, not hoard energy for release later.”

They stared at the artifact, feeling the uncanny power that radiated from it. A wondrous quiet fell upon the group as they marveled at the mysterious object.

Suddenly Han’s voice broke the silence. “Hi Luke. Hey, Mara. So, who’s hungry?” He glanced at the table then back at the family. “Nice box. Are we ready to eat?”

***

A few hours later, Mara headed back to their own apartment with Ben and Luke. Ben drowsily laid his head on his father’s shoulder as they approached the door. “Do you think it’s safe to have that thing in the house with Ben?” Luke asked quietly. “You know how sensitive he can be to disruptions in the Force. He picks up on the slightest things.”

Mara shifted her bag and keyed in her access code into the lock panel. “He should be fine. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything dark about it.”

The door lock buzzed and Mara tried her code again. Again, the door buzzed and refused to open.

“Let me try,” Luke said. He reached over and entered his code and the door slid obligingly open.

“Trying to keep me out?” Mara said, smirking. “I’ll have to call maintenance and have them reset my code tomorrow morning.”

Luke had opened his mouth to say something when Ben stirred, then stretched. The child opened his eyes and looked at Luke. Mara reached over to stroke his hair and he turned toward her. “Hi, sweetie,” she said. “You must be so tired. Do you want me to put you to bed?”

The child frowned and buried his head in Luke’s neck. “No,” he said decisively. “I want Daddy. Just Daddy.”

Mara drew her hand away as Luke smiled. “Let me tuck this little guy in,” Luke whispered.

She sighed as Luke carried Ben into his bedroom. Her headache was finally wearing off, but it still bothered her. She walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband, taking in the familiar furniture and sparse decorations, and put her bag on the dresser, then she slid her jacket off and hung it up.

She closed her eyes and exhaled. It was good to be home.


	3. Chapter 3

Mara closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, and drew in a deep breath from her breathing assist unit as the ship settled onto its landing struts. The vessel secured, she listened as the engine’s hum began to wind down. She waited until her breathing stabilized before she opened her eyes and scanned the landing bay, then she reached over and sent a message to the support crew to log their arrival. An automated message came back a few moments later to inform her that the ship was in the queue to receive the necessary post-flight routines by the end of the work schedule. Satisfied that that detail was completed, she turned her attention elsewhere, and her mouth edged into an irked line as her vision confirmed her Force sense. No Skywalker to greet her. She shook her head tiredly. She would have to gather her things herself.

He must have gotten sidetracked, she thought as she unsnapped her safety webbing. I’ll see him soon enough. After all, it was Luke who had asked her to oversee this mission. As usual, he’d want the results as soon as she could provide them, regardless of whether or not it was convenient for her to do so.

Mara shakily rose from her seat and walked to the back of the ship to retrieve her personal items, shifting aside to allow the rest of the crew to slide past her on their way out. The artifact lay on the narrow bunk beside her duffel bag. The artifact was a curious thing; Luke had been right about that. The archaeologists at the site claimed it was incredibly old – their tests had determined that the item must have been buried in the sands millennia ago.

Mara cocked an elegant eyebrow at it as if trying to read the significance of the object. The artifact made her uneasy for some reason, and she would be glad to be rid of it. Hopefully she could drop it off with someone at the temple, today if possible. She was not a naturally superstitious person, but there was something about this thing. Not something dark, as if it were a Sith artifact – she had had experience with those. This was something older, more fundamental. She sat down on the narrow bunk and stared at it, turning it over in her hands as if to coax its mysteries out of it. Then she frowned, stood up, opened her duffel bag, and pushed it inside amid her clothes and materials. With a grunt, she heaved the duffel bag over her shoulder and made her way slowly toward the ship’s exit ramp.

The walk from the landing bay to the central hub of the complex wasn’t long, but it took a toll on Mara. At one point she found herself leaning against the wall of the well-lit corridor, pausing for a quick use of her breather. The air in the medical device was unpleasantly stale, she noticed, and it made a disagreeable itch in her throat. It was very possible that the filtration needed an update. She made a mental note to mention that to Cigal. Once she regained her strength, she continued on her way to the transport hub.

Since the start of the New Republic, the Jedi and the government had tried to find a way to merge their sometimes divisive objectives in a harmonious way, and pairing the access to the temple at the same location as the access to the government buildings seemed to work well. Citizens who worked here mingled with government executives and Jedi associates from the nearby temple, and the noise from the crowd exacerbated Mara’s already throbbing head.  
The corridor opened to the central courtyard, where the entrances to the various landing bays connected to the access portals that led to the various areas of the complex. At mid-day, the sun provided natural lighting throughout the area. It was dusk now, and the first of the two moons was beginning to edge over the horizon, where a blue haze sparkled and flickered. A soft breeze had begun to pick up, rustling through the plants and short trees that grew around the pathways. The haze floated among the branches, barely perceptible in the waning daylight, and tiny blue lights danced amid the leaves. Just beyond the courtyard lay the water. Only a few, like Mara, knew how important the presence of the soothing nearby water source was to Luke.

Speaking of presence. Where was Luke? He ought to have at least commed her if he was going to be late in meeting her. She readjusted her duffel bag and boarded a transport that led to the residences at the temple. A quick probe along their Force bond failed to reveal his location, although she suspected he was close by. The transport, thankfully, was nearly empty. She dropped the bag onto the seat across from hers and retrieved her comm unit from her jacket pocket.

The device clicked. “Hello?” Luke’s voice came through the speaker. “Mara? So you got in early?”

She frowned. “No, we agreed I would be back today. Remember? We talked last night.”

“No, we talked last night because you wanted to tell me you would be delayed. Are you feeling well? Did you take your medication?”

Mara rubbed her forehead again. “My medication?”

There was a pause from Luke, and Mara heard a rustling noise. “I’ll just wrap things up. Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

Mara looked up. The transport was beginning to slow as it approached the residential area. “I’m almost home.” 

“Just get off the transport and then stay put. I’ll be right there.”

She reached across their bond again and sensed Luke’s mood. “I can get to my home on my own. I don’t need you to help me,” she snapped.

“Mara. We’ve had this conversation before. You know you can’t push it.”

Mara was silent for a moment. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. “Fine,” she said at last, exhaling heavily. “I’ll meet you at the terminal.” She said goodbye then switched off the comm unit. She shook her head as she put the device back in her pocket. Luke must have gotten her arrival date mixed up. That’s what it was, of course. Or was she really supposed to come in later? She couldn’t remember.

True to his word, however, she saw him sitting at the station, engrossed in his datapad, as the transport pulled in. He looked up as the doors to her transport opened, then stood up as she walked over to him, then he greeted her with a gentle hug. She smiled as he took the duffel bag from her, placing it on the ground at his feet, and he motioned for her to sit on the bench. Mara complied and he sat beside her.

“Mara, are you still on your medication schedule?” Luke asked. He reached inside the pocket of his brown Jedi robes and extracted a small box. “Look, you need to keep the medication in your system. Remember? We met with Cigal right before you left. She set up the schedule with you.”

Mara stared at the package of transdermal medpatches that Luke held in his hand. “I don’t remember,” she said quietly.

Luke sighed. Gently, he took her arm in his flesh hand, and with his metallic hand, he rubbed her forearm with a sterilization wipe and then applied the patch. Mara took in a deep breath as the medication began to course through her veins. She felt her headache lessen and a sense of focus began to return to her. “I’m sorry, my love,” Luke said. “I never should have sent you on such a stressful mission alone. You should get some rest."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Yeah, but I got the artifact.”

Luke smiled broadly at her. “I knew you would.” He held her hand in his flesh hand, and she felt the warmth from his skin and from his affection for her. “It’s getting late. Are you hungry? We could go to Han and Leia’s house. She’s closer than our place, and she wanted to see me tonight anyway.”

Mara nodded, and Luke helped her to her feet. Their conversation fell into an easy, familiar pattern as they walked together toward the building in which Han and Leia lived. They caught up on the events of the last two weeks: Luke filled her in on the rumors of a new threat from the remnants of the empire, and she recounted the journey to retrieve the artifact. Before long they reached the apartment building.

A few minutes later they were at the Solo residence. Leia answered the door and let them in. “How are things?” Luke asked his sister.

She sighed and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ears. “Things are fine for now. Ask me again in five minutes.” Leia turned toward Mara and embraced her. “How are you, Mara? How are you feeling?”

“Tired. But good.”

Leia cast a sincere and caring smile at Mara. “I’m glad. Come on, let’s relax before dinner.”

They began to head toward the common room when Mara stopped suddenly. “Where’s Ben?” she asked.

Leia gestured toward the study. “He’s in the other room. He wanted to play x-wings by himself.” 

Mara turned toward the study while Luke accompanied Leia to the kitchen. She stood quietly in the doorway and waited for Ben to turn around. “Hi, honey,” she said.

The boy turned to look at her, then turned back to his toys. “Hi.” He lifted the toy in an imaginary flight over his head. Then he brought it swiftly down and it crashed into the floor violently enough to cause little pieces of the toy to fly off as it skittered across the room. He walked over and picked it up, then began to play with it again.

Mara came over and crouched beside him. “How are you? Did you miss me?”

Ben looked at her warily from the corner of his eye. “Where’s my daddy?” he asked.

“In the main room with Aunt Leia. Don’t you want to spend time with me?”

The child frowned. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Of course I am,” Mara said, slightly taken about by Ben’s forceful assertion. “Maybe I came home a little earlier than you expected, but this is still my home.”

Ben looked away. “May I be excused? I want to see my daddy.”

She reached for him but he squirmed away from her. Reluctantly, she lowered her hand. “Sure. Go see Daddy.”

Ben placed his toy back on the table then he ran out of the room. As soon as Ben saw Luke sitting on the sofa, the child rushed over to him and Luke opened his arms to embrace the boy and picked him up to sit beside him. Mara frowned. What had gotten into Ben? He used to be so happy to see her. She walked out of the study with the intention of speaking with Luke about it when Leia intercepted her. “Are you all right?” Leia asked. “You look a little pale.”

“Just a headache. I’m sure it will be fine.”

“You just missed Han and Jacen. They should be home soon, so we can all have dinner together. I’m glad you could make it. We didn’t expect you back so soon. But it doesn’t matter; you know you’re always welcome here.”

Mara was about to reply when a wheezing fit interrupted her. She grasped her breathing unit and inhaled deeply. Luke rose from the sofa in the common room and stood beside her until she gained her composure again, then held her by the elbow and steered her to her seat beside him, with Ben on the other side of Luke.

“Can I get you some water?” Leia asked. Mara waved her hand and Leia sat back on her sofa, her long brown hair draped over one shoulder. “So Mara, how was your mission?” she asked solicitously.

“I have something interesting. You might like to see it. Luke, would you get my bag for me?” Luke got up, retrieved the duffel bag from where she had dropped it by the doorway, and handed it to her. She opened it, lifted the artifact out, and hesitantly placed it on the table. Once again, she got that strange feeling from it, as if it could cast some kind of aura. Luke leaned in closer and Leia raised her hand to her chin thoughtfully. 

The artifact was ancient, that was obvious. It was constructed of solid material, dark in color, and shaped like a perfect cube. Unrecognizable icons surrounded the edges, and characters of an unknown language were engraved on its dull gray sides. A bluish glow radiated around it and a soft, almost imperceptible hum seemed to come from it. But the strangest thing was not its age or its appearance. The cube seemed to emit a power of its own, a pulse through the Force that was both intriguing and unnerving.

“What do you think it could be?” Mara asked, her voice hushed.

Luke looked at her and frowned. “The archaeologists identified it as an early Force prism.”

“Already? They just learned about its existence three months ago.”

“No, my love. We’ve studied it for years.” Luke continued patiently. “It’s a Force prism. Probably thousands of years old.” He picked it up and the blue glow danced brightly over the artifact then traveled across Luke’s hand to buzz and flutter along the exposed metal of his artificial fingers like a coin in a magician’s trick.

Mara pondered this information. “So…if you already know what this artifact is, then what exactly was my mission, Luke?”

Luke smiled at her but he spoke slowly, as if he were addressing a child. “I asked you to bring it back from where it’s been stored so we can study it here.” Leia looked away, pained.

Mara frowned at the device silently, trying to remember if she had seen it before. Then her curiosity got the better of her and she leaned in to take a better look. “What does it do?”

Luke placed it back on the table, and the blue glow faded into a steady rhythm. “A Force prism can redirect the energy of the Force itself.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think of it this way,” Luke said. Mara noted that Luke was using his teacher’s voice now, just like he did when he was with his students. “Imagine that the Force is a river. Everything that lives is pulled along its current. But this—“ he pointed toward the artifact “—this is a diverter in that river. The Force flows around it and this redirects where the Force goes. New pathways appear, and former pathways that once seemed fixed disappear.”

Mara reached out toward the artifact. She could hear the rhythm of the hum grow slightly louder now, as if it had acquired a beat of its own. A Force prism. She must have heard of this before. Why hadn’t she heard of this before? She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

Suddenly the door opened and Han’s raised voice broke the silence. “You can’t just do whatever you want, Jacen. You’re not the only one who wants to finish the project.”

Mara turned, with Luke and Leia, toward the door while Ben buried his head in his father’s side. Jacen threw his jacket on the chair. “You don’t get it, Dad. Nobody is doing it right. I’m surrounded by idiots.”

Luke rose and approached the teenager, who glared at him. “Jacen, calm down.”

“I will not calm down!” Jacen shouted at his uncle. “This is stupid. Why do you make me do these things? You know I hate them!”

Han shook his head and reached out for his son. “Jacen, wait—“

The teen shook his father’s hand off of his arm. “Leave me alone.” He spun and glared at Luke. “You too, Uncle Luke. Just leave me alone!”

Han and Luke stared helplessly as Jacen stormed out of the room toward his bedroom. Leia put her head in her hands.

***

A little while later, Mara and Luke headed back to their own apartment. Ben drowsily laid his head on his father’s shoulder as they approached the door. Mara dropped the duffel bag and keyed in her access code into the lock panel. The door buzzed, but nothing happened.

“Mara,” Luke said gently.

The door lock buzzed and Mara tried her code again. Again, the door buzzed and refused to open.

He sighed. “Mara." 

“What?” she demanded.

Luke smiled sadly at her. Carefully balancing the sleeping boy, he picked up the duffel bag. Then he walked down three more doors and stopped. Mara stared at him. He reached over and entered his code and the door slid obligingly open. He waited for her at the open door, and she walked over to the other apartment.

She sighed as Luke carried Ben into the apartment. She followed them, dropping her duffel bag on the floor. The door on the end of the hall was her bedroom, she was sure of it. She walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband, taking in the familiar furniture and sparse decorations, then she slid her jacket off and hung it up.

She closed her eyes and exhaled in relief. It was good to be home.


	4. Chapter 4

Mara closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, and gasped as the ship settled onto its landing struts. The vessel secured, she listened as the engine’s hum began to wind down. She waited for the chime that announced disembarkation, and then watched as the other passengers made their way off the small shuttle and onto the landing area. Her mouth edged into an irked line as her vision confirmed her Force sense. No Skywalker to greet her.

He must have gotten sidetracked, she thought as she unsnapped her safety webbing. I’ll see him soon enough. After all, it was Luke who had asked her to come see him. She couldn’t quite remember if he had told her why.

With the transport nearly empty, Mara rose from her seat. She held onto the side of the seat for balance as she retrieved her duffel bag from the compartment over her head. With a thud, the bag fell onto the seat beside her. It occurred to her that the bag seemed heavy for simply holding her clothes and she wondered what else might be inside it.

There was no time to open it to look, however, as she was quickly becoming the lone remaining passenger on the shuttle. She lifted the duffel bag and slung it across her shoulders.

The walk from the landing bay to the central hub of the complex wasn’t long, but it took a toll on Mara. At one point she found herself leaning against the wall of the well-lit corridor, pausing for a quick use of her breather and to catch her bearings. She was sure her destination was straight ahead, beyond the bay where the x-wings were housed. When she looked up again, she noted a strange blue haze that flitted along the edge of the open bay doors. Probably some electrical discharge from the mechanic’s area, she thought, and she made a mental note to mention that to maintenance. She rested for a moment, then, once she regained her strength, she continued on her way.

Since the start of the New Republic, some facets of the government had tried to find a way to integrate their sometimes divisive objectives in a harmonious way. However, as those voices of resistance grew louder, they found themselves unwelcome in the Inner Core planets and so they resettled on this Outer Rim world. As planets went, she mused, at least D’Qar was rather pleasant. Those who worked here included Resistance personnel and the occasional Jedi like herself, although the Jedi and the Resistance rarely intermingled.

The whine of the ships and the ever-constant racket of repair work on their small fleet exacerbated Mara’s already throbbing head. Mara made her way to the rear of the hangar, past the glowing vertical white panels that illuminated the area, to where Luke kept his x-wing. Even at mid-day, the sun’s natural lighting rarely extended this far into the area. It was dusk now, and sky grew darker as the moonless night commenced, tinting the room with a bluish hue where the light faded. The breeze began to rise up from the nearby lake, and the temperature cooled enough to make Mara pull her jacket tighter.

She looked around his vehicle. Where was Luke? He ought to have at least commed her if he was going to be late in meeting her. A quick reach through the Force bond failed to reveal his location, although she figured since his ship was here, he had to be close by. She retrieved her comm unit from her jacket pocket.

The device clicked. “Hello?” Luke’s voice came through the speaker. “Mara?”

“Of course. I’m here; where are you?”

There was a brief silence on the other end. “I’m with Leia. Where are you?”

She frowned. “Right where we agreed to meet. By your x-wing. Remember? We talked last night about this.”

“No, we talked last night about your decision to take the government transport to Coruscant.”

Mara rubbed her forehead. The throbbing was beginning again. “Why in the seven circles of Kessel would I be going to Coruscant? You didn’t forget, did you, Luke? It’s still under Vong control.”

“Mara, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was a pause from Luke, and Mara heard a rustling noise. “Stay there. I’ll come get you.”

Mara was silent for a moment as she tried to decipher Luke’s enigmatic words. “All right,” she said finally. “I’ll meet you at the hangar.” She said goodbye then switched off the comm unit. She shook her head as she put the device back in her pocket and glanced around, trying to remember the layout of the building. Luke must have gotten her arrival mixed up. That would explain it.

True to his word, she saw him stride toward her, his brown Jedi robes gracefully flaring behind him. She walked over to him and opened her arms to greet him. He clasped his hand on her shoulder, but when she leaned in to kiss his cheek, he balked.

“What’s wrong?” she said teasingly. “Can’t a wife kiss her husband hello?”

Luke froze and she felt a sudden tightening of his mental shields. She tried to reach across their bond but felt his rebuff.

“What’s wrong?” she asked again, her voice serious this time.

Luke tilted his head toward her, his blue eyes locked onto hers. “Mara,” he said, his voice low and measured. “Do you remember me?”

She looked at him incredulously. “Are you kidding, Skywalker?” She dropped the duffel bag to the ground and put her fists on her hips. “Is this some kind of a joke?”

“No,” he answered slowly. “Mara, I need to know. What do you remember?”

She started to laugh, then stared at him as she realized he was serious. “About what?”

He looked around for a moment, then found a set of crates nearby. He gestured for her to sit, and he sat beside her. “Mara, what do you remember about any of this?”

She took a breath. “Well, I remember that you and I have been married for years and our son Ben is three years old. I used to be sick with the Vong illness but now I’m better. I met you on Wayland and I tried to kill you, and if I don’t start getting a reasonable explanation for this nonsense I may go back and try again.”

Luke sat back and ran his hand down his brown beard. He was quiet for a moment. “Mara, we are not married. We don’t have a son named Ben. I met you when you came to be trained as a Jedi. We are friends, Mara, and nothing more.”

She began to laugh again, then stopped when she looked at him. An icy, curling doubt began in her gut. She reached out toward him and found his mental shields uncharacteristically tightly shut. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s true. Look around. Sense it. You know it somewhere.” Luke shook his head gently. “You’ve been sick, Mara. Sometimes you forget things.”

“No.” The curling doubt began to throb and writhe, its cold tendrils slithering around inside her. “No. I don’t believe it. We’re married.”

“Look at your hand. Do you see a wedding ring?”

“Of course. I never take it—“ She looked at her hand. It was bare. She gathered her thoughts for a moment. “But I remember –“

“Your memory is faulty,” he said, gently placing his flesh hand on her shoulder. “Mara, I’m your friend. But not your husband.”

Mara sat still, her mind whirling. She looked at Luke and saw concern, compassion – and little beyond that. Tentatively, awkwardly, she stretched out along their Force bond. The connection, once vibrant and abounding with shared memories and emotions, was hollow and empty. She swallowed. “You don’t love me?” she asked, her voice small.

“Oh, Mara.” Luke looked pained. “I love you like a friend. Like a sister.” He slipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve a small holodisk. “I’m married to someone else, Mara. You must remember her; you two are good friends.”

He activated the disk. The holo showed Luke with a pretty brunette. When Mara showed no sign of recognition, Luke spoke. “That’s my wife, Kira. We were all at a gathering last month.” He adjusted the holodisk. “You were there too. See?” Another image appeared, this time of Mara. She was smiling and standing next to the couple.

Mara stared at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Luke. “What about our- my son?” she asked hesitantly. “I have a son, don’t I?”

Luke’s lips thinned and he tilted his head slightly. “You don’t remember what happened?”

The icy doubt crawled over her skin. “Just tell me.”

Luke dropped his hand from her shoulder to take her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. She gripped tighter than she intended to. “Do you remember Jarid Aves?” he asked.

Her memory went back to the blond, blue-eyed former second-in-command of the Smuggler’s Alliance. “Of course I remember Aves.”

“You always did refer to him by his last name, didn’t you?” Luke said, smiling faintly.

“What’s Aves got to do with anything?” she snapped. “I’m asking about my son.”

“Your husband had something to do with your son, Mara.”

Mara stared at Luke. “My husband?”

“You were married to him. Your name is Mara Jade Aves. Your son was Bennan Talon Aves. Han and Leia named their own son after him.”

“Was?”

Luke sighed deeply and squeezed her hand. “You and Jarid were happy together, you know. And you both loved little Ben so much. But there was an accident, a terrible accident. Your ship lost power on approach, and though Jarid tried to reroute power and you did what you could to protect them, the ship caught fire and crashed. Ben and Jarid died. They found Ben’s body under Jarid – apparently he had spent his last moments trying to protect his son.”

She sat silently for a long time. “Why didn’t I die too?”

“You were protected by the Force. You deflected the shrapnel and softened the impact.”

“For myself? Not for my husband and my own kid?” She shook her head fiercely. “That’s not possible. I wouldn’t do that.”

Luke looked at her sadly. “Maybe it wasn’t your decision. Maybe the Force protected only you and you had no choice in the matter. Either way, you blamed yourself. You went very dark for a long time afterwards.”

“So you’re telling me that my husband and my son died a horrific death and I came out unscratched.”

“Not unscratched. You were alive but seriously injured. Broken bones, burns. The worst was the head injury. Your memory doesn’t work right anymore. After your accident, Leia and I took you into our family while you rehabilitated. You lived in her home, you shared meals with us. Your mind must be confusing that with actually being a part of our family.”

Mara shook her head, gently at first, then more violently. “No. This can’t be.”

She stopped for a moment and sat still. The tendrils of blue haze that snaked along the floor between them flickered, like cold fire around her feet. Then she closed her eyes. Her mind stretched out toward her son, praying to every god she could think of that she would feel his presence, like a bright and joyful star shining in the great constellation of the Force. But there was nothing. Not like the empty, untrodden place where Luke’s bond led. This was a blankness beyond emptiness. A void.

Her son was not there. Her son was not anywhere.

She closed her eyes tightly, clutched her hands to her head, and fought the rising panic. The blue wildfire haze blazed and crackled. Her breath came out in short gasps and she knew her control was tenuous. Faintly, she felt people approaching her and sensed Luke’s attention turn to them.

A woman’s voice, calm and low, came through. “Mara, it’s Dr. Kalonia. I’m going to take care of you.” Mara sensed the woman turning toward Luke. “What does she know?” the woman asked.

Luke’s voice replied. “She’s losing Ben again.”

“And Jarid?”

“No. She doesn’t remember him as her husband. She only remembers Ben this time.”

The woman’s voice came as a whisper. “She always remembers Ben.”

Mara felt their pity like a thick, oozing tar, and it infuriated her. But her rage at their reactions could not overcome the power of grief that clawed at her heart and demanded an escape. She pulled herself in and wrapped her arms around body. A guttural cry, the primal grief and anguish of a mother who learns of the death of her child, seared its way out of her throat.

She felt the pressure of a hypospray against her arm, and a moment later her body relaxed, although her mind still burned. Luke helped her rise to her feet, and she unsteadily tried to shake off his support. The dark-haired human doctor discreetly took Mara’s pulse as she held her arm.

“You should come rest at the medical center,” Dr. Kalonia said. “You’ll feel better.”

They walked her the short distance to the infirmary. Dr. Kalonia entered a code with proficient skill into a terminal and the door opened. “You can have your usual room. The one with the view of the lake,” she said, turning toward Mara. “We know how the water soothes you.”

Mara sat in the waiting hoverchair, her head bowed, tears slipping down her face and onto her jacket. Instinctively she reached her hand out to Luke, who took it in his and held it.

They reached the private wing of the infirmary, a collection of three or four rooms. Luke escorted Mara into the room and he stood nearby as Dr. Kalonia helped her rise from the hoverchair. The doctor removed Mara’s boots and her jacket for her, placing the items on a nearby small table, and then helped Mara settle into the bed. Mara turned to Luke. “Will you stay with me for a little while?” she whispered, mustering as much dignity as such a request could allow.

Luke glanced at Dr. Kalonia, who nodded. “I can stay,” he said. He settled onto a nearby chair as she got comfortable in the bed. Mara reached out her hand and Luke took it in his. Dr. Kalonia took a final reading and then, satisfied that her patient was safe, excused herself.

The sedative was working powerfully now. Still clasping Luke’s hand, her face a study in grief, she turned into the pillow and cried silently. Luke stroked her hand. “Shh,” he said softly. “Close your eyes, Mara. Get some rest. It will be all right when you wake up.”


	5. Chapter 5

Mara closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, and let out a deep breath. She listened as the hum of her own heart began to wind down. Her mouth edged into a thin line as she opened her eyes and her vision confirmed her Force sense. No Skywalker to greet her.

Nobody at all to greet her.

She raised an elegant eyebrow. Nobody anywhere.

She stared down the corridor. The stark white walls flickered with an iridescent blue haze that reflected onto her skin and clothing. Vertical rungs of white light sped past her as she started to walk down the sterile corridor. Toward what? She couldn’t remember anymore.

She sensed the presence of another. Distant, near – it was hard to tell.

“Hello, Mara,” he said. She glanced to her right to see a fair-skinned older man, tall and thin, walking in step with her. He was dressed as a Jedi, but his garments looked as if they were cut from an earlier fashion. His features were sharp, his blue eyes intelligent and piercing; his long brown hair pulled away from his face and bound in a simple band.

“Let me guess. You’ve been waiting for me,” Mara said.

He smiled faintly. “In a way, yes. Waiting for you to understand.” His gravelly voice carried a regional dialect of a standard Coruscanti accent, and suddenly she knew who he was.

They stopped. The blue haze enveloped them, the lights dancing and darting across them. “Luke told me about you. Since you and I are talking, I presume I’m dead?” she asked.

“Well, that’s an interesting question.” Qui-Gon stroked his thin beard. “In fact, no. You are not dead. It’s a bit more complex.”

There was a low shelf, a bench of a sort, against the white wall. Mara sat down and Qui-Gon sat beside her. “If I’m not dead, then what is this place?” she asked. “And where is everyone I know?”

“This place exists because we need to have our conversation. As for your friends, they are still out there,” Qui-Gon replied, casting his hand in a cryptic gesture. “But you can’t access them right now.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated,” he said. “You see, the Force has been disrupted, like when a stone is thrown into a pond. Ripples bounce off each other until the pond finally calms again. Just like that pond, the Living Force finds ways to correct itself when that balance is thrown off. But there are inevitably consequences to that correction.”

She looked off to the distance, although there really was nothing to see. “I remember an artifact. Was it real? Was that the stone thrown into the pond, as you put it?”

“Yes, it was real. An ancient device, inconceivably old. A bauble discarded by the Celestials, never meant to be discovered. Although you were told it was a diverter or prism, it is much, much more than that.” Qui-Gon shifted in his seat and tilted his head. “There are multiple universes. It happens, rarely, that there are intrusions of one universe into another. The device you discovered was left by the Celestials to prevent those intrusions from happening. The object acts like a pin to hold the universes in their positions.”

Mara scoffed. “Universes collide? And nobody notices? I’d think that would be a rather significant event to overlook.”

Qui-Gon smiled at her reaction. “The intrusions are so subtle you barely notice what’s happening. That’s where the Living Force comes into play. This object is far more than a diverter of the Living Force: it actually reconfigures the Living Force around those who come in contact with it. In this case, when you and the archaeologists discovered it, you were all affected by it. The archaeology team did not have the strength in the Force to withstand the ripples. They were dissipated into nonexistence. Your power in the Force kept you intact, although the device sent you through numerous iterations of what your life might potentially have been in those other realities, like ripples in your existence.”

Qui-Gon leaned in and peaked his long fingers. Thin lines of blue light traveled up his hand and sparked into the air. He looked intently at her. “You see, Mara, although the Living Force has no beginning and no end, everything else has a time and a season. The winds have their cycles of storms. The tides have their surge and ebb. The creatures have their migrations to cooler climates. That’s what you have been experiencing. Each time the Force shifts in its effort to restore balance, it causes an altered iteration to reality. This shifting then triggers another one of your realities – another cycle of your rising and lowering tides, another one of your seasons of migrations to the north. And now the ripples have finally expended themselves. It has become your time to leave your familiar physical existence and travel to your new one.”

“So I’ve been migrated right out of the universe, have I?” she asked. Blue light glimmered around Qui-Gon’s features, blazing in his blue eyes. She felt the tingle along her own skin.

“There are multiple universes, Mara,” he reminded her. “The life you remember is only one universe. The Force seeks balance, and as a result of this realignment these universes have been overlapping. Timelines have been intersecting; merging and diverging. You have slipped between the edges at the point of the overlap. You, my dear, are a paradox.”

She laughed ruefully. “I’ve been called worse.” She stretched out her legs, always a dancer.

“Usually, people who are caught up in the rebalancing simply cease to exist and no one notices their absence. But you, Mara. Your strength in the Force is so intense, so powerful – you cannot be erased so easily. Your existence is persistent. You, Mara, have become one of the rare few who can touch both the mortal and the immortal realms.”

Mara stared at him. “And you? Are you one of those rare few, too?”

Qui-Gon smiled warmly. “In a way. I have learned to harness the Living Force to transcend the boundary between life and death. But that is as far as my skill can take me. You made contact with the device - a device that was never supposed to be touched by anyone but a celestial - and it amplified the Force around you and within you. Because of your contact with the device, you can touch the infinite.”

She considered this information to be simultaneously both a completely incredible and a completely reasonable explanation. She was quiet for a long while, thinking. Finally, she spoke. “Will anyone remember me? Will I ever see the people I loved again?”

Qui-Gon shrugged. “In some universes, you never left. In others, you were never there. So it depends. But even in the remotest universes, there will always be traces of you. Your considerable power in the Force transformed you into something more than you were before. Instead of disappearing, you have transcended. Your spirit, your energy in the Force still resonates throughout all these universes. Your physical form may be gone, but your Force energy is never destroyed.”

Mara sat beside him quietly. His words sank into her and she tried to absorb them. Eventually she turned to him. “I can never go home again, can I?” she said.

He shook his head. Mara’s head dropped. She stared at the floor, at the misty blue lights that pooled around her feet. “So what do I do now?” she whispered.

Qui-Gon stood up and folded his arms across his chest, inside the flowing sleeves of his tunic. “You have an eternity to decide where to go and what to do. You can learn to move in-between these universes, although no one can see or sense you for now.”

“As a ghost.”

“More like a tremor in the Force, or a wave that passes through. Another possibility is that your essence in the Force can be reborn. If there is another whose midi-chlorian level is high enough, your power in the Force may be able to transfer into that person to amplify their own natural abilities. Either way, I can teach you how to access the Force here and how to project into other realities. I’ll be your guide and companion.”

She tilted her head, her gold-red hair falling to the side. “How long will it take to learn that?”

He laughed gently. “Time doesn’t matter. You are beyond time. When you are done, you will have learned it.”

She nodded her head. Then she stood up, the blue lights swirling like a cloak behind her. “Then let’s begin right now,” she said.

Qui-Gon smiled. “Very good. Relax. Find your center,” he directed.

Mara took a deep breath and closed her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

The desert winds swept across the plains, lifting sand in its wake and etching swirls into the soft ground. Beyond the plains, the last rays of the late afternoon sun slanted across the sharply defined dunes, while on the other side the dark shadows soared up to fuse with the light at the sharp ridge that ran along the apex. Beyond that lay a series of plateaus, the ground made relatively stable through a series of underground water sources that the locals had diligently tapped for its life-giving moisture.

The hills in the distance held the skeletons of dozens, perhaps hundreds of vehicles that had crashed here during a climactic battle. The harvest of scavenged discarded technology from those metallic husks made a relatively stable, if unsatisfying, economy for those unlucky enough to live in the village. Nearby, a religious community also eked out a living, and they provided buyers for the food and essentials that the village sold the scavenged parts to obtain.

The religious community had settled here within the last thirty years, and the village had been here for slightly longer, coming to Jakku just after the battle that had left the destroyed ships in its wake. But the site was so much older than anyone had ever realized.

It was not by accident that the battle had happened here. It was not a fluke that the religious community decided to settle here. The Force was strong here. It called to them, pulled them into its vortex. The Force had always been present in this place, since the Celestials had left an artifact here billions of years before. An artifact which was never meant to be discovered.

Like breath, the Force rose and ebbed. Recent years had seen it grow quiet, its followers few, its power so rare that many doubted it had ever actually existed at all.

But the Force continued to call to those who knew how to listen.

A disturbance in the Force trailed the wind and blew across the dunes and the villages and the open plains. The disturbance grazed the ground, as if searching, searching, for the right place, the right time. The right person.

Those in the village didn’t notice it. A few in the religious community lifted their heads and frowned, aware of something, but not quite sure of what it was. Most felt nothing.

The disturbance continued to swirl and stretch, a faint blue haze that rode up the dunes and straight into the sky itself where, if anyone dared to look upward into the unforgiving glare, it would be mistaken for the reflection of the sunlight. The planet turned and the darkness of the desert night overtook it, and most of the beings fell into a deep slumber. The disturbance slid silently across the starry sky, then wrapped itself in a faint aurora across the two moons.

Then, gradually. the disturbance descended to skim along the surface of the night’s graysilver sands again. In the distance, one abandoned metal vehicle lay on its side. The disturbance approached the vehicle and slipped inside the secured entrance. Blue light arced and danced along the metal frame.

Inside the vehicle, a girl lay sleeping. It had been a long day, with hours of scavenging yielding a profitable cache of parts that she could bring to the village tomorrow. She always had good luck with her scavenging. It was as if she could sense where the best parts were hidden, and she had a remarkable sense of balance and timing that gave her the leverage to extract those items where others had not been able to do so. The girl pulled her thin blanket closer to keep out the chill of the desert night air.

The disturbance glimmered and sparkled around the dark room. The girl didn’t notice. She was deep in a dream.

In her dream, she was walking through in an open field at the top of a tall promontory. In the distance, she could hear the soothing faint crash of ocean waves against the rocks from the shoreline below. The breeze, heavy with the salty scent, was warm but without the scorching, punishing heat of the desert winds. She lifted her head and discovered that she could look at the blue sky without her sun-filtering goggles. Her gaze dropped again, and her hand brushed against thigh-high green grass. Their thin blades slipped through her fingertips. The girl had never felt grass before and she was fascinated by it.

Someone was nearby. She looked up and saw a woman standing near her, facing her. The girl stopped.

The woman stared at the girl, then smiled. “Hello,” the woman said.

The girl smiled back. “Hello.”

They stood watching each other for a moment. The woman tilted her head and her gold-red hair shone in the bright sunlight. “I heard you call to me. Who are you?” the woman asked.

The girl shrugged. “I’m nobody.”

“That’s not true. You are far more important than you realize.” The woman raised an elegant eyebrow. “I have something to give to you. I have to warn you; it will change everything. Your life will never be the same. Would you like it?”

Although the girl didn’t know the woman, she somehow understood that the woman meant no harm. The girl’s hazel eyes met the woman’s green ones. “Yes,” the girl said. “Yes, I want it.”

The woman held out her hand. Brilliant blue lights like luminous jewels sparkled in her open palm. The girl stretched her own calloused hand toward the woman’s. Then the woman touched the girl’s hand and the girl gasped. A sudden, intense energy poured into her, as if she were being filled with a torrent of power that she had previously only glimpsed.

The woman closed her eyes and smiled. Then the girl’s dream abruptly ended.

The girl opened her eyes, took her first new breath, and awakened.

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge response from TF.N.


End file.
